Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: Standards

Viscount Waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the UK’s broadband speed ranking.

Baroness Barran: The average broadband speed in the UK rose by 18% last year according to Ofcom’s annual report, which is available here, and attached: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0038/194897/uk-home-broadband-performance.pdf. The average home speed is now 64Mbps, up from 54.2Mbps the year before. This was largely due to the growing availability and take-up of superfast and ultrafast full-fibre and cable services.To improve broadband speeds, the government is committed to providing nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. Gigabit-capable connectivity can provide speeds of at least 1,000Mbps, and is reliable and future-proof. 26% of the UK (or 7.5 million) premises are able to access these speeds, and 16% of the UK has access to full fibre.BT Openreach has a target to connect 20 million premises with full fibre by the mid to late-2020s, and Virgin Media has pledged to upgrade its entire network to gigabit-capable by the end of 2021. These initiatives will provide UK citizens with a world class, future-proof digital infrastructure system, as well as helping to drive the UK up the broadband speed table at the same time. UK Home Broadband Performance  (pdf, 2386.9KB)

Internet: Safety

Lord McNally: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the outcome of their consultationon the Online Harms White Paper which closed in July 2019.

Baroness Barran: The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online, and we are working at pace on our proposals. We will publish a full government response later this year.

Department for Education

Universities: Admissions

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with universities regarding accommodating the demand for places on courses following the withdrawal of A-level results based on algorithms; and what additional resources are being made available to universities as a result of the change of policy.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: My hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, has written directly to all Vice Chancellors and has set up a Higher Education Taskforce so that the government can work with the sector to build capacity, harness expert views and tackle challenges. Together, we have agreed that all students who achieved the required grades will be offered a place at their first-choice university, wherever possible.We have taken a number of steps to support this commitment. We have announced that, subject to parliamentary approval, we will completely remove temporary student number controls to help ensure there are no additional barriers to students being able to progress to higher education.We have announced that we will lift caps on domestic medicine and dentistry courses in the next academic year. We will support providers to offer places to as many students who have met the grades for their current offer as they have capacity for, and where there are clinical placements available, through additional grant funding to support the costs of this provision.We will also provide additional teaching grant funding to increase capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and other high-cost subjects, which are vital to the country’s social needs and economy. The Office for Students (OfS) will consult the sector on the details of how the allocations are made.Providers will also be eligible to bid for a share of up to £10 million in funding to support capital expenditure. This funding will be used to support the infrastructure required to accommodate additional students recruited as a result of the changes to policy on A level grades.The fund will be administered by the OfS, and providers will be eligible to bid for projects that support expansion in 2020/21.We will continue to monitor the situation and to consider the effects that deferrals will have on future years. Funding decisions for future years will be taken at the Spending Review.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Overseas Aid

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to (1) identify the 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income committed to spending on aid within the merged accounts of the Department for International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and (2) account for combined inter-departmental projects for the purposes of the commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on aid.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The FCDO's Statistics on International Development publications will continue to report on the UK's Official Development Assistance spend, all of which contributes to the 0.7 commitment. Sufficient spending plans are in place to meet the 0.7 commitment in 2020.

Maira Shahbaz

Lord Shinkwin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the ruling of Lahore High Court on the legality of the marriage and religious conversion of Maira Shahbaz, in the light of (1) reports that she was abducted at gunpoint by the man to whom she was subsequently married, and (2) the earlier ruling of the Faisalabad and District Sessions Court that she was underage at the time of the marriage.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We are closely monitoring Maira Shahbaz's case following her reported abduction in April. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls.We are concerned about women's and girls' rights and ongoing reports of forced marriage and forced conversion in Pakistan of women and girls from religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians and Sikhs.We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girl's rights and gender equality with the government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, I raised our human rights concerns with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 15 July.

Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review

Lord Truscott: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in relation to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy; whom they have consulted as part of thatReview; and when they anticipate it will be completed.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: In a phased approach, Her Majesty's Government is undertaking detailed horizon-scanning, covering future trends, opportunities, risks and threats; gathering evidence and conducting policy analysis; and developing policy, capability and systems reform options.Her Majesty's Government is engaging with external experts and wider stakeholders with an interest in our nation's security and prosperity, and the global challenges the UK will face over the coming years. This includes our allies and partners, building on an ongoing dialogue about COVID-19 response and recovery, the Devolved Administrations, civil society and external experts in the UK and overseas. Her Majesty's Government has also launched a Call for Evidence to hear from the public and stakeholders to inform the long-term strategic aims of our international policy and national security, rooted in our national interests.The Integrated Review process remains closely aligned with the Comprehensive Spending Review, to be published in autumn. This allows the Government to ensure that departments have the resources they need to deliver the Integrated Review's conclusions.

Maira Shahbaz

Baroness Cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the ruling of Lahore High Court on 4 August, which decided in favour of a man accused of kidnapping Maira Shahbaz, fabricating a marriage certificate, and forcing her to convert to Islam.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We are closely monitoring Maira Shahbaz's case following her reported abduction in April. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls.We are concerned about women's and girls' rights and ongoing reports of forced marriage and forced conversion in Pakistan of women and girls from religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians and Sikhs.We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girl's rights and gender equality with the government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, I raised our human rights concerns with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 15 July.

Department of Health and Social Care

Contact Tracing: Computer Software

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of smartphones currently in circulation in the UK which are fully functional with (1) the NHSX COVID-19 contact tracing application, and (2) the new contact tracing application currently under development that uses the Google and Apple exposure notification application programming interface.

Lord Bethell: The NHS Test and Trace app which is currently being trialled will require smartphones to be running Apple iOS 13.5 and above or Android Marshmallow 6.0 and above. Estimates show that 82% of Apple smartphones and 91% of Android smartphones in the United Kingdom run or are capable of running these versions.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, under the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic in England, when two households join to form an extended household, that extended household has to remain the same, or whether another individual or family can be substituted to form a new extended household.

Lord Bethell: A ‘support bubble’ is a close support network between a household of any size and a single adult household. Households with more than one adult can expand their close support network so that it includes an additional single adult household.Support bubbles should be exclusive. This means people should not switch the household they are in a support bubble with or make connections with multiple households. This is to avoid creating chains of transmission.

Diabetes: Coronavirus

Lord Rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the research published on 19 May by NHS England which found that higher blood glucose levels and obesity increased the risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19 for people with diabetes, what steps they are taking to ensure that the care of people with diabetes is prioritised to address these modifiable risk factors.

Lord Rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the NHS to identify people with diabetes (1) whose care has been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) who have refrained from seeking clinical support, and (3) who require improvements in their diabetes control.

Lord Rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people with diabetes can continue to access the care and treatment they need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lord Rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve secondary prevention of health complications associated with diabetes inthe light of the impact of COVID-19.

Lord Bethell: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an analysis of diabetes risk, NHS England has worked with partners to publish guidance which includes how to safely maintain essential diabetes services, conduct remote diabetes reviews and methods to prioritise the review of patients as part of local recovery efforts. Extra measures have also been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic so that people living with diabetes can continue to access support, including commissioning services to help people with diabetes of all ages self-manage their condition using online digital structured education programmes. To address the effect that COVID-19 had on referrals into the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, NHS England will use a ‘direct to consumer’ model to sit alongside Public Health England and NHS England health marketing proposals.

McKinsey and Company: Contact Tracing

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government when McKinsey were contracted to review the NHS Test and Trace system; how they approached that company about undertaking that review; and which criteria they used to choose that company for such an undertaking.

Lord Bethell: The contract with McKinsey commenced on 18 May 2020. McKinsey was approached via the Crown Commercial service Management Consultancy Framework 2. It was selected following the guidance on the framework due to its experience on working on similar requirements, its ability to deliver at pace and its ability to deliver at extremely short notice given the urgency of the COVID-19 situation.